DonoSlane Excursions 'A lesson in Humility'
by csThor
Summary: During the insurrection of the Human League see Corellian Trilogy Myn and Kirney are stranded on Corellia. They run into a bunch of Academy Cadets with ego problems and decide a lesson is required. Rated T for language.


DonoSlane Excursions – A lesson in Humility

**Dramatis Personae:  
><strong>  
>Kirney Slane (human female from Coruscant)<br>Myn Donos (human male from Corellia)  
>Jarrath 'The Wet Rag' Lund (human male from Corellia)<p>

**Timeframe: **~ 18 ABY during "Ambush at Corellia" – 3 days after the activation of the interdiction field

**Coronet City Spaceport  
>Ernie's Tapcaf – Level 9 – Southeastern Quadrant<strong>

Under normal circumstances the tapcaf would have been nearly empty at this time of the day but for three days the situation had been anything _but_ normal. Spacers, shuttle pilots, couriers and other crewmen, natives and offworlders alike, were gathered around the tables and did what they had been doing ever since that blasted interdiction field had been activated – they were sipping their drinks, waiting for their chance to escape this trap and were trying to swallow their rising anger. One could see that the latter was becoming increasingly difficult.

"Three days," Myn muttered disdainfully. "Three kriffing days of sitting around because some kriffing scalawag thinks he can play planetary dictator."

Kirney merely nodded. It was nothing she hadn't heard countless times before and it was still as true as it had been the first time.

Jarrath smiled sourly. "Doesn't make it better if you count the days, Myn," he said wearily and took a sip of his brew. "What would you do if you'd been off-world?"

Donos shrugged. It had been pure coincidence that he and Kirney had been on Corellia when the interdiction field had gone online. Three hours later and he'd been on his way to the Corporate Sector with a load of sensitive business documents. "Probably the same as now. Just in another cantina."

The large holoscreen on the wall interrupted the anger-filled buzzing of the patrons as it switched from the general music program, which everyone had simply ignored, to the picture of a young but not particularly attractive woman wearing the livery of the Human League. A groan erupted from the crowd of spacers who knew from experience what was to come. Thanks to the communication blackout the planetary HoloNet Channel was the only channel they could still receive so switching channels was simply not possible.

_"This is the Corellian Patriotic News and I'm Li Fordyce, speaking from Coronet City Central Studio. Good morning my fellow Corellian patriots."_

"Go kriff yourself, witch," someone shouted from the back of the tapcaf. A murmur of agreement rose as the spacers went back to their drinks and tried to ignore the ramblings of the woman on the screen.

The news speaker went on regardless. _"For the third day now the forces of the Human League are weeding out the cancer of aliens and rebel supporters to make our home planet safer for the law-abiding citizens and their families. Our glorious leader Thrackan Sal-Solo has issued a statement that the campaign is making good progress and order should be restored quickly. He has also requested the support of the population in his struggle to uncover and eradicate threats to our home planet. So if you notice suspicious activities in your neighborhood, your family or among your friends don't hesitate to call the Human League representatives and report your observations."_

Myn had enough. "For Sith's sake, Ernie," he barked and slapped the table so that mugs and plates clattered. "Switch off the darn screen or I swear I'll put a few rounds through it."

The barkeeper shrugged as he polished glasses behind the counter. "Not my idea. Official order for all tapcafs is to tune in on the news channel. Switching it off is punishable as _unpatriotic activity_."

"You really think these Human League cowards dare to enter the spaceport?" a burly spacer threw in sarcastically. "They stay in the city and only have the guts to terrorize weaker victims. They know well enough what kind of welcome they can expect here." He slammed his right fist into the palm of his left hand.

Various other shouts of agreement droned out the news speaker which had resumed her spiel.

The barkeeper shrugged and pointed the remote control at the screen. "I'll switch off the audio. That's all I'm going to concede."

"Better than nothing," Myn muttered but raised his glass in a silent toast towards the barkeeper.

Kirney eyed her husband with a small sarcastic smile on her face. "Wish you hadn't given back that sniper rifle, don't you?"

He gave a snort. "You bet. First to go would be that insolent _Slizhak_ who's strutting around in a General's uniform. I'm still debating if I should put a round right between his eyes or if I should let him suffer a bit. Heard a shot through the liver hurts like hell."

Jarrath raised an eyebrow at the heat in Myn's words. "Kilstar? That low-life who is in charge of the goon squads? Why that?"

"He's an insult for any Corellian who's served in the armed forces. I knew he was an ambitious son of a sith and a pervert to boot but I'd never have guessed he'd dare to wear a General's uniform in public." Myn swallowed some more of his brew but the expression on his face suggested he was drinking coolant fluid.

Kirney looked at him curiously. "A pervert?"

Myn gave another snort. "Dac Kilstar was Captain in the 1st Armored Division. That's the highest rank he ever managed to get and I still wonder how he made it this far at all. The man's extremely incompetent, arrogant and a coward. Anyway, about a year before I left the Corellian Forces CorSec's Organized Crime Unit had picked up hints that someone was selling high-grade military equipment to various black marketeers. The head of it all was noone but Kilstar of course. They quietly began an investigation and ultimately managed to uncover enough evidence to arrest and convict him. You want to know what he was doing when the agents burst in to arrest him? He was caught with his pants down kriffing a crying twelve-year-old girl styled like one of the harlots on Treasureship Row."

Kirney blanched while Jarrath drew back with a look of utmost disgust on his face. "_Slizhak_," he hissed in agreement and downed the rest of his ale before signaling the serving droid for another round.

"If you want," Kirney said quietly when the droid had left, "I'll try to find a sniper rifle for you."

Myn shook his head. "Don't think I'm not tempted, love. But we have to think of our family." For the umpteenth time he thanked his lucky stars that his parents had taken Alina and Kolot and had left for the farm of his uncle when the troubles had started. They were safe there, far away enough from the Human League's goon squads and their informants.

His wife nodded somberly, her mind turning to her four-year-old daughter as well. Then a new thought struck her. "Speaking of family. How's Denna?" she asked Jarrath who was suddenly looking very worried.

"I don't know," the lanky man admitted and gripped his glass tightly.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"She sent me a text message telling me she'd leave for her family's estate in the mountains the day before yesterday. I haven't managed to get through ever since."

Myn arched an eyebrow. "You mean the calls went unanswered?"

"No." Jarrath shook his head. "Aparently the whole district is unreachable. All I'm getting is an error message."

"Sithspit," Kirney swore quietly. "And you can't even take your ship to check on her."

"Yesterday evening I was close to taking off, anyway," he muttered. "No-fly order be damned."

"Don't!" Myn shook his head. "They'd shoot you down without a second's hesitation."

"Which is why I stayed on the ground. I'm just worried sick. That's all."

A burst of raucous laughter turned their attention to the front of the tapcaf. A group of young men in the uniform of the Corellian Military Academy had entered and was now occupying one of the larger tables there. And they seemed to in the best of moods.

"Ernie," one of them called, "Whyren's Reserve for me and my friends. We've got a reason to celebrate."

The barkeeper arched a sceptical eyebrow. "Isn't a bit early to start with the strong stuff, son? It's not even ten in the morning."

"Let that be our worry, okay?" the cadet replied edgily. "We're not here to flood our craniums if you're worried about that. Just a little celebration that that dim-witted fool Micamberlecto is finally gone."

The atmosphere in the tapcaf changed abruptly. Before the patrons had simply been mildly annoyed at the youth's impertinence but now many faces hardened and the air was charged with hostility and anger.

Ernie, who had begun to put cubes of ice into glasses, stopped and scowled at the cadets. "Don't tell me you're with the Human League. I don't serve that scum."

The loud-mouthed youngster grinned at him. "Don't worry old man. We don't take them seriously, either. They'll fail sooner or later. And once they do we Corellians can finally mind our own business without Coruscant telling us what to do and what not."

One of the spacers let out a bark of derisive laughter. "Strong words for freshman like you. You really think Coruscant will sit back and do nothing when their delegation has been taken hostage?"

The cadet straightened. "Then we'll show 'em we don't want them here. We'll defend our home and send them back to Coruscant with their tails between their legs," he declared with firm conviction.

The other guests roared with laughter. "Listen to this kid," someone from the back shouted over the laughter. "Thinks he's Garm bel Iblis." The others laughed harder.

Myn rolled his eyes. "Oh, the arrogance of youth. Have you taken a look at the planetary defenses lately? One of the Republic's fleets has more firepower than all of Corellia's defenses combined. If they put their mind to it they'd walk all over you and wouldn't break out in a sweat."

"We'd be defending our home," another cadet ranted. "We'd be right."

"So? You think that is of any importance in combat?" He shook his head. "What's your branch? Infantry? Artillery?"

"Starfighters," the aparent spokesman of the group returned proudly. "We'd be in the first line of defense."

Myn exchanged a pitying glance with Kirney who shook her head at the cadets's obvious overestimation of their own abilities. "You wouldn't last five minutes against a normal starfighter squadron," she declared matter-of-factly. "If that long at all. None of you has the experience to survive such a fight. You'd simply throw away your lives."

"How can you know that? Have you seen us fly?"

Jarrath snorted. "We don't need to. We know what happens to rookiees who think they're Wedge Antilles." Another round of laughter erupted among the patrons. "The only ones running with their tails between their legs will be you. If you're lucky. Remember the Reps defeated the Empire and its titanic resources."

This time the cadet snorted. "You've been reading too much of Coruscant's propaganda."

Myn had enough. "You've got a big mouth, kid," he admonished. "Want to prove there's more to you than just that?"

"What do you mean, old man?"

He jerked his thumb at the wall behind him and ignored his wife's questioning stare. "There's an amusement hall two levels down which also has recreational simulators. Want to prove how good you really are? Or are you just good at talking big?"

The young man was visibly torn. On the one hand he desperately wanted to prove that he was not a whisk but on the other hand he was unsure how to take the challenge.

"Now, what's it going to be, kid?" Myn challenged with an insolent grin of his own.

The cadets exchanged a few quick looks, then they stood as one. "Okay, old man," their spokesman said as he straightened his uniform. "You're on."

Myn, Kirney and Jarrath rose as well … as did a number of spacers who wanted to watch the fight. At least it would provide some entertainment on what would surely be another long boring day.

* * *

><p>As it turned out the amusement hall had more than two recreational simulators and all were connected with each other. There were four for X-Wings, two for Y-Wings and even eight for TIE Fighters or Interceptors.<p>

"Want to join?" Myn whispered to his wife. "We can offer them a four-on-two. Or even an eight-on-two."

"Don't get cocky," Kirney admonished. "You haven't been in a snubfighter cockpit for more than eight years."

"So?" He grinned. "You haven't been in one for more than ten years and I bet you can still fly rings around them. I mean look at them. They're in their second year, you can see that because of the twin stripes above the Academy logo. All they have flown so far are simulator runs versus artificial intelligence. They haven't sat in a real snubfighter at all."

"What's up with you? Why are you so intent on beating these kids?"

The grin disappeared from his face as if someone had flipped a switch. "Because they desperately need a lesson. Because they need to be given a slap that wakes them up. They haven't seen the galaxy, Kirney. They've never been outside the Corellian system and they talk as if they were wise beyond their years. I don't want to see kids like them being wasted by the likes of Thrackan Sal-Solo just because he can misuse their enthusiasm and patriotism. You know it is entirely possible that the New Republic won't take the assault on their delegation lightly, that they'll send a fleet to sort the issue. And if that happens I want to know that at least these fools over there won't volunteer for a mission that will end in their own death. And for what?"

That made a lot of sense, she had to admit. She had seen, long ago when she'd been on the Starfighter Academy on Coruscant herself, that the transition from a simulator to a real snubfighter had been a shock experience for some of the cadets. Some had even broken down under the stress and had packed their belongings. As realistic simulators were these days they could not completely replace the experience of a real flight. These kids had yet to make their own experiences and were equating their simulator runs with real combat.

Myn mistook her silence for scepticism. "Look at them Kirney. They're still wet behind the ears. I bet some of them haven't even kissed a girl, yet."

Try as she might she could not ignore an opening like that. She had been with the Wraiths too long to do so. "Unlike you at that age, husband dear. Right?" she quipped with a smirk and watched him blush.

"Well … That was different. I was playing _Cadet Cardboard_ and just didn't deal with the fairer sex." He sobered a fraction and gave her an oddly intense stare. "But I never thought I was invincible. And they most certainly do. Unless we can disabuse them of the notion right now they might learn the folly of their ways too late."

Kirney sighed. He could be so kriffing logical, especially when he was right to boot. "Okay," she muttered. "I'm in."

"Hey, old man," the cadet called, "what's up? Lost your courage?"

"Hardly." Myn turned to face them. "We were wondering if we could enhance the challenge a bit. Me and my wife versus four of you, to make the run a bit more realistic. X-Wings, TIEs … you choose."

The youths seemed to be perplexed by the offer and exchanged glances. But a few seconds later three of the others stepped forward to join their spokesman.

"We accept," he declared with a confident smile and gestured at the TIE simulators. "We take the Interceptors. You can have the X-Wings. Settings will be randomized."

Myn shot his wife a look and received a shrug in return. "Suits us," he said and both groups entered their assigned simulators.

The rest of the crowd moved to watch the match on a large holoscreen mounted to the wall. Jarrath stood at a pub table when three of the remaining cadets joined him.

"Your friends don't know what they got themselves into," one of the young men announced. "Ruun's the best pilot of our class."

Jarrath raised an eyebrow. "Ruun would be the guy with the big mouth, correct?"

He got a nod in return. "He can be a bit obnoxious but he can afford to be. As I said he's the best pilot of our class. He's never lost a fight."

"Never? Not even in the sims?"

"Nope."

A smile appeared on Jarrath's face. "Well, then I guess this is going to be an educational forenoon for him. Twenty credits that this thing's over in five minutes."

"You think your friends will stay alive that long?" another cadet asked with disbelief written across his face.

"No." Jarrath's smile grew into a smirk and he placed a twenty credit coin on the table. "I say your friends will see that black screen and the 'You lost' message within five minutes. Tops. Any takers?"

"I take that bet," the youngster returned and slapped his own coin on the table. His two compatriots followed suit.

"Good." Jarrath grinned. "Easy money."

Inside the sim capsule Myn was finishing his pre-flight checks and flicked on the switch for the intercom. "Com check. Kirney you read me?"

"Copy that," came her voice from the speaker. "I had forgotten how cramped a snubfighter cockpit is. I'd take the _Fair Trade_ any day. And I want gray stripes on my X-Wing. This Rogue Squadron red is _so_ overdone."

"It's only five minutes," he soothed. "How are you holding up?"

There was a brief moment of silence. "It does bring back memories. Lavisar, Kuat, the Hawkbats …" She sighed. "Okay. How do you want to play this?"

"Depends on the settings. But since they've flown against artificial intelligence only I guess they'll know how to react in specific situations."

It took her a moment to work out what he was saying. "Ah, so you think we should present them with with a situation they know so we'll know how they'll react."

"Correct. But that's for later. For the initial merge I'd like to confuse them a bit. Remember the cooperative tactic you and Face cooked up when we were flying mixed formations with X-Wings and Squints?"

Kirney chuckled. "Devious. Want me to shield you? You're the better shot."

"Suits me."

It was then when the previously black viewscreens of the capsule came to life. Myn saw the interior of a starship's hangar bay, the magcon field indicator glowing blue while framing what looked like a snapshot of space, black nothingness dotted with the needle pins of stars – and a grey-green planet spinning slowly some distance away.

"Two has four green," his wife reported. "Ready to go."

He hit the four switches which would have started the fusion engines of a real X-Wing and watched them flicker to green one by one. "One is ready as well. Let's go."

He cut in the repulsorlifts and advanced the throttle until he was hovering a meter above the hangar bay's floor. Feeding some of the energy output into the engines he eased the snubfighter through the magcon field and retracted the landing gear. A quick glance to the left showed Kirney's X-Wing breaking the invisible field as well.

"Throttle to eighty percent," he ordered and shoved the lever forward.

"I think I've got them," Kirney announced. "One o'clock, relative descent. Five contacts at ten klicks distance. One's a capital ship, the others are squints."

"Okay, take the lead," he ordered and reduced the throttle for a moment until he was twenty meters behind and to the right of Kirney's snubfighter. "We should start at three klicks. No need to give them more time to adjust than necessary."

"Copy that. I'll direct all energy into shields so that they can take potshots at us as much as they wish."

He checked the energy distribution display and hit a switch to smooth out the shields. When he was satisfied the drew some more power from the engines and diverted it towards his lasers so that they'd recharge a bit quicker. Then he concentrated, an odd familiarity settling over him, on the shrinking distance measurements. When the numbers on the display reached three klicks he swung in behind Kirney's fighter.

"Wish we had torpedoes," she remarked dryly. "But then the kiddos would complain." Her previous reluctance to take part seemed to have evaporated as instincts and long-forgotten routine took over.

Myn bit back a laugh. "Probably." When the squints closed to two and a half klicks his targeting systems lit up and he had it auto-assign target designations to the four TIEs.

Kirney's voice cut into his concentration. "They're shooting."

He looked up for a moment and saw brilliant emerald streams of light emerging from the four enemy starfighters. None of which even came close to them. "Who's teaching them how to shoot?" he groused with the indignation of a highly-trained marksman and starfighter pilot. "That's a disgrace."

With an uncanny coincidence the incoming lasers were suddenly accquiring more accuracy and some even ended in bright flashes ten meters in front of Kirney's X-Wing. "Looks like they've heard you," she remarked dryly.

Myn didn't answer. Instead his thumb hit a switch on the control stick and locked his targeting sensors on one of the foolish youngsters. Then he pushed the stick forward, dropping below the arc of defense Kirney's forward shield provided, and brought the TIE he'd selected into his crosshairs. Hitting the trigger he sent four scarlet lances towards his unlucky target, all of which converged in the oval sphere of the TIE's cockpit. The squint blew up spectacularly, sending fire and splinters in all directions and forced his wingmates to evade the fireball.

"Nice shot," Kirney said admiringly as he swung his fighter back in position behind her. "I hope that was not Mister _I've-got-a-big-mouth_. That would have been too easy."

In that instant the two flights passed each other. Standard tactics would be to yank the stick back and engage the TIEs in close-combat. But Myn had other ideas. "Smooth out your shields and redistribute energy to your lasers," he ordered. "Let's see what they're doing."

Her chuckle came across the speakers. "Looks like they're a bit shaken," she said. "Their formation flying is quite wobbly."

As he checked his sensor screen he could see the TIEs coming around somewhat hesitantly, their formerly tidy formation in shambles. They were more than two klicks away already, out of range, so Myn decided to provide them with another riddle to solve. "Drift to port and put a bit of space between us. I bet they're going to split up."

Kirney put her fighter on the port wing and shot off until she was half a klick from Myn's fighter. Predictably the three dots followed their targets, the intact wingpair following Myn while the third went after Kirney. "Head to head?" she asked.

"Yup. Turn back when we're five klicks apart." He swung the control stick to the right and brought his X-Wing into a drawn-out arc to starboard. His pursuers had closed to a little more than two klicks already but he wasn't worried. Their shooting skills left a lot to be desired and the X-Wing had shields which could sustain a lucky hit. He shunted a bit more energy into his drives to reduce the speed difference and kept a careful eye on the distance measurements. When his wife's fighter hit the five-klick-range he brought his X-Wing around to port.

"This guy couldn't hit a Star Destroyer from the inside," Kirney remarked acidly but Myn could see she'd started to jink around as her tail had closed to little more than one and a half klicks.

Just then a laser blast erupted just a few meters off his starboard wingtip and Myn instinctively pushed the stick forward to get out of his attacker's crosshairs. Almost immediately he pulled the stick back again and hit the left rudder to swing out of his previous line of flight. "Not bad, Mister," he muttered to himself, "but not nearly good enough."

"I've got him," his wife reported. "You got mine?"

He hurriedly locked his target sensors on the TIE trailing the other X-Wing, jinking all the time to present no clear target. "Locked on." He threw his fighter into a quick roll to port, hit the rudder pedal again and brought Kirney's attacker into his crosshairs. The sensor board lit up and he hit the trigger. Two salvos of four lasers each erupted from his laser cannons and sped towards the distant target. Then he broke to starboard and dived away.

Three laser beams of the first salvo missed and the fourth buried itself into the connection strut between the cockpit and the starboard quadanium panel, weakening it. The second salvo hit head on and burst through the transparisteel window and into the cockpit. There was a flash of exploding electronics and the TIE lurched out of its path, trailing sparks and smoke before it blew up.

He hastily checked his aft sensors but there was only one target still around and it was far away enough to pose no immediate danger. "What happened?"

"I tried to hit the first one," she answered and even through the com distortion he could hear her irritation. "But he shied away in the last moment and the blast caught the second TIE head on."

"Doesn't matter." He smiled as he watched his wife rejoin the formation. "Two up, two down. That I'd call a result."

"Any special requests for the last one?"

"Nope. Just a good old-fashioned dogfight. Want a go?"

Kirney sounded eager. "Sure. Let's see if there's more to him than a big mouth."

Myn gave a low chuckle as he brought his fighter around to follow his wife. But instead of sticking to her in a perfect wingpair formation he gave her more room to maneuver, intending to watch the duel unfolding.

The last remaining TIE, which had been circling in some distance swooped in and began shooting at her as he passed the two-klick-marking. Myn watched as his wife sent her fighter into a complex dance of evasive maneuvers. She held her fire until both fighters had passed each other, Myn guessed she probably wanted to check her opponent's dogfighting skills, flipped her X-Wing over to port brought it around to a wide semicircle.  
>In the meantime the TIE pilot had gone for the smaller turn radius and rolled his fighter to place himself behind her, lining up for the kill … and Myn found himself wondering what the Kriff she was doing.<p>

"Need help?" he asked and prepared to intervene.

Her answer, however, stopped him dead. "No need. I have him where I want."

Myn raised an eyebrow. Even in a simulator run like this he'd never voluntarily let a TIE get on his tail as this was one of the shortest ways to a quick virtual death.

Kirney allowed her attacker to close to a few dozen meters … and then she acted. She threw her fighter into a right hand barrel roll and chopped her throttle to zero. Her X-Wing slowed quickly, too quickly for the TIE to react. Without waiting for her targeting sensors to lock on she hit the left rudder pedal, brought her fighter's nose around and let loose a volley of crimson laser fire. Her target never had a chance as he flew straight into the shower of destructive energy. Two beams sliced off a third of the starboard quadanium panel, another penetrated the engine housing and destroyed one of the engines and two more hit the cockpit section. The TIE's spherical fuselage swelled, thin lines of bright light crisscrossed the surface and then it detonated.

"Sithspit! That was great shooting," he said admiringly.

Instead of an answer the holoscreen showed a brightly glowing 'You won' message before turning dark. Then the simulator capsule opened with a hiss and he squeezed his eyes shut against the bright lights.

Outside the simulator he gave his madly grinning wife a high five before turning towards the group of cadets. The faces that greeted him were radiating shock, disbelief, awe and not a little wonder.

"How … How did you do this?" one of the young men stammered in disbelief. "Where did you learn to fly like that?"

Myn saw Jarrath pocket a stack of credcoins with a grin that mirrored his own before he raised his ale in mock salute. "Come on, Myn. Put them out of their misery and show 'em!"

He shot his wife a questioning look, received a nod and a smile in return and shrugged off his jacket to reveal his left sleeve. The cadets and a few spacers gasped as they recognized the uppermost of the three squadron badges sewn to his flight suit.

"That … that … that is …" the young man who had bragged so much just a few minutes ago sputtered. "_Rogue Squadron_?"

Myn nodded. "Let's go back to Ernie's. It's a lot more confortable and I guess you have a lot of questions, don't you?"

"Yes, Sir," the cadets answered in unison after snapping to attention.

On their way back to the tapcaf Myn leaned close and whispered "I wonder how they'd reacted if we'd asked Kolot to take a simulator."

Kirney guffawed as she tried to stifle her laughter. "That," she quipped, "we should better leave to our imagination. Unless you want to give Kolot's ego yet another boost."

Myn gave an amused snort and squeezed her hand.

_**The end … for now.**_


End file.
